Submitted by
Sam
a Weekend Warrior
from laguna hills Date Reviewed: January 7, 2005
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Strengths:
decent battery life. Auto shutoff charger. rainproof.
Weaknesses:
Everything having to do with the design of the light. Cord is way too long. cord plugs into the bottom of the light and will get knocked loose if you hit a big bump. Large plug between batery and light rubs off paint! Randomly shuts off!!!!
Similar Products Used:
nightstick.
Bike Setup:
Gary Fisher Montero. Mostly stock, except for some skinny cross wheels and a better seat. Used for commuting to work and back.
Bottom Line:
This review is actually for the pheonix which has a 2 hr battery life and a 15w light.
The good stuff: The battery life is decent enough to last on my rides home from work for 4 days before needing a recharge. Since I only work 4 days a week this is a good thing.
The bad stuff: The light is pretty ugly. mounting requires tools. There is no way to adjust the angle of the light other than up and down, but you can't do this unless you have tools and you definitely can't do this while riding the bike. The cable from the battery to the headlight connects using a very large plug that is a few inghes away from the battery pack. This does a great job of rubbing the paint off of your frame as you ride. The connection is a very tight fit and the design of the plug dos not have anything to really grab ahold of making it very difficult to unplug. I'm always afraid I'm going to slip and yank the cable right out of the battery.The cable from the battery to the headlight is very long. Way too long, to be specific. I've had to wrap this around the stem several times to keep it from hanging down and rubbing on the front wheeel. Recently I've had the light just randomly shut off while riding. This is not what you want when going through a dark tunnel in middle of the night, but this is exactly what happened. At first I thought that maybe there was a short caused by having to wrap the cord around the stem so many times, but it turnes out it's the switch. The switch is basically a bubble on the handlebar mount. this is almost impossible to find when wearing gloves. It also requires you to hold it down for several seconds to turn off. Anyway, it appears that the switch sometimes gets stuck so it is on until you hit a big enough bump to knock it loose and it instantly shuts off. It also makes it difficult to turn the light on at times. I've had several instances where I would push down the switch and the light would go on, but as soon as I let off the switch it shuts off again.
Overall I wouldn't recommend this light to anyone, and I consider it a major saftey hazzard. It's being replaced ASAP.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Julie MacArthur
a Weekend Warrior
from Nanaimo BC Canada Date Reviewed: November 21, 2002
Favorite Trail:
roads
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$200.00
Purchased At:
Bastion Cycle and Ski
Strengths:
light weight, easy to mount and dismount
Weaknesses:
battery doesn't last AT ALL
Similar Products Used:
Nite-Hawk Pro Dual
Bottom Line:
This product has given me trouble over the last year and a half. I commute year-round on my bike and need something that will hold a charge for at least 8 or 9 hours and give me a good long light at the end of the day, especially in winter. This battery cannot hold a charge, cannot sustain it for any length of time (I think I got 20 minutes before the low-battery light switched on) and is all round useless. I paid nearly $300 Canadian for it and got $^#% all for my money. I returned it FOUR times to the company via my bike shop and each time it hasn't worked properly.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
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